Homemade Apple Cider

This is a Sponsored post, I received product for recipe developement , and all opinions are my own.

One of my favorite ways to use our fresh picked apples is to make my own homemade apple cider. (have you seen the prices of the cider at the orchards?)  You can make a batch of your own very easily!  let me show you how!

It's Apple season and celebrating apples is just the perfect way to start fall! What better way to do that then with family traditions?  Picking apples from an orchard is an annual event for our family, and we've been going to the same orchard for more than 40 years, by 5 generations now! It is so sweet to see our grandchildren picking apples from the same tree's that their Pawpaw picked when he was young, when his Nana took him too, and  that our children's Nana and Bapa took them too, and now we are doing the same!  

Ooh those Spices! Besides apples it also starts with great seasonings! that's where my sponsor; Republic of Tea comes in! They sent me their Hot Apple Cider Tea, Herbs of Autumn Tea bags to use in  recipes. I knew exactly what to do, use their amazing blend of spices in my cider ! It saves me from bundling up my own, or fishing and filtering out spices over and over from the finished cider when I use loose individual spices. Plus they just know the perfect blend and have it just right!! So good!  (and it makes fantastic cup of apple cider herbal tea all by itself! just warms the soul!)

Choosing Apples:I love to use a variety of apples if I can to give the cider some great depth of flavor. So grab some pretty colors! colors give you a variety of  flavors! from tart granny smith that can take on all the sweetener you add later as well as the spices! to the lovely honecrisps, and jonathon golds, to whatever your favorites are!

Let's talk Sweeteners! This is one you get to customize! My husband is a diabetic, so it can easily be made a bit sweeter with a sugar substitute or honey which doesn't spike his blood sugars quite like white refined sugar sugar does. OR I like to use a combination of sweeteners to give the cider some depth. so a bit of honey, a bit of brown sugar and a touch of maple syrup. BUT a little goes a LONG WAY! start small and taste as you go! once you add too much.. it takes over the apple! So be careful and just add a bit before tasting and seeing if you like it.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end of the post! and if you need to check out the list of great prizes from all of our amazing #appleweek sponsors check out the list on my welcome post.

Now.. Let's get cooking!

Printable Google Docs recipe

Yield: 12 servings

Author: Cari Richards

Homemade Apple Cider

prep time: cook time: total time:

Delicious homemade Apple cider, made from scratch you can easily customize the flavor and sweeteness/ sugar level and best of all, you know every single ingredient! Oh it's easy too!

ingredients:

Fruit

• 16 cups of water
• 10-12 assorted apples quartered . Use a variety of sweet and tart, and a variety of colors: such as granny smith, honey crisp, jonathon gold, etc.
• 2 oranges quartered
• Optional fruits to add in or substitute for the orange:
• Lemon
• 1 cup of one of the following fresh fruits:
• cranberries
• pomegranates

Seasonings

• 4 apple cider tea bags such as Rebublic of Tea brand or see optional spices below
• optional spices instead of tea bags: 4 cinnamon sticks, 1 teaspoon all spice 1 whole nutmeg (you can put them in reusable tea bags if you like or cheesecloth bundles or leave them loose in the pot too.) 

Sweeteners

• 1/2 cup- 2/3 cup of choice of sweetener or in combination
• Suggestions;
• brown sugar
• honey
• maple syrup
• sugar substitutes that measure like sugar

instructions:

How to cook Homemade Apple Cider

1. Add fruit to large stock pot or slow cooker. Add in tea bags or the optional seasonings to the pot or slow cooker on top  of the fruit.  Cover fruit with the water, making sure to leave an inch or two of space at the top of the pot. 
2. Slow cooker; turn the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.
3. Stock pot; Heat the cider over high heat until it reaches a simmer. Then reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot and simmer for about 2 hours OR until apples are completely soft.
4. Slow cooker and Stock Pot; Using a potato masher, mash the apples and oranges against the side or bottom of pot. This will help break them up and release more of their flavors into the cider. 
5. Cover with Lid and simmer 1 more hour. 
6. Using a fine mesh strainer or a layer of cheese cloth inside a regular strainer, strain out the cider, removing all the solid pieces of fruit and spices. Use the potato masher to press them against the strainer to squeeze all the juice out of them. 
7. Discard the remaining pulp/ solid pieces.
8. Sweeten  the remaining cider to taste, by stirring your desired sweetener. Start with a little bit and  taste. Add a little at a time to increase sweetness. 

Created using The Recipes Generator